Uzbekistan

Key findings in 2016

Percentage of respondents that agree or strongly agree with the following statements	Uzbekistan	Transition region average	Germany	Italy
Economic situation better than 4 years ago	94	24	33	7
Political situation better than 4 years ago	95	28	17	9
Household lives better than 4 years ago	86	29	28	10
There is less corruption than 4 years ago	78	23	16	10
Satisfied with personal financial situation	80	31	55	33

Satisfaction with the situation at the country level and with personal circumstances

Nearly all of the survey respondents in Uzbekistan believe that the economic and political situation was better in 2016 than four years prior to the survey. These are the two highest satisfaction rates in the transition region, and they are both well above the corresponding averages for Germany and Italy. Among Uzbek respondents, 78 per cent also think that there was less corruption in 2016 than in the four years before the survey, up from 59 per cent in 2010.

86 per cent of Uzbek respondents believe that their households lived better in 2016 than they did in the four years before the survey, while 80 per cent report that they are satisfied with their current personal financial situation, again the two highest percentages in the transition region and both significantly higher than in Germany and Italy.

Life satisfaction increased from 66 per cent in 2010 to 93 per cent in 2016, and is now the highest in the transition region. There is widespread reported life satisfaction across all age and income groups, despite the fact that the country remains among the poorest in the region in terms of GDP per capita.

Uzbek respondents also show a very high level of optimism. According to 97 per cent of respondents, children born now will have a better future than the current generations. These optimism levels are higher than those recorded in the previous survey in 2010 (78 per cent).

 

Attitudes towards democracy and the market economy

Among Uzbek respondents, 81 per cent prefer democracy to any other political system and 69 per cent support the market economy, two of the highest figures in the entire survey. The percentages of respondents who say they might, under some circumstances, prefer a planned economy or an authoritarian government are 17 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. The remaining respondents believe that “for people like me, it does not matter” what type of economic and political system prevails in the country.

When asked which democratic institutions exist in Uzbekistan, 99 per cent of respondents indicate that peace and stability are guaranteed in the country, followed by gender equality and law and order, both at 95 per cent, and a fair court system, at 94 per cent. These results are more than 20 percentage points higher than the averages for the western European comparators.

 

Priorities for government spending

32 per cent of Uzbek respondents think that the main priority for additional government spending should be health care, followed by education (25 per cent) and assisting the poor (18 per cent). Additional analysis of the LiTS III data shows that as many as 85 and 83 per cent of Uzbeks would be willing to contribute more taxes to improve the quality of their public health system and public education, respectively.

 

Sources of information

The main daily sources of information for Uzbek people are television and radio, used by 77 per cent of the population, and discussions with family, friends or colleagues, mentioned by 51 per cent of the respondents. In sharp contrast, the percentage of respondents who use the internet and social media on a daily basis is the second lowest in the entire transition region, at only 12 per cent. Newspapers are read at least once a day by one-tenth of the population, in line with the transition region average but below the figures reported for the western European comparator countries.

 

Self-assessed health

58 per cent of Uzbek respondents consider their health to be “good” or “very good”, a figure slightly higher than the transition region average but below the corresponding average for Germany and, most importantly, a 10-percentage point decline relative to 2010 levels. Unsurprisingly, data show that the healthiest respondents are the ones aged 18-39 and those in the upper-income bracket.

 

Quality of public services

The majority of Uzbek respondents report being satisfied with the general quality of public services and utilities provided in their country. Satisfaction rates range from 95 per cent for telephone services (one of the highest in the transition region) to 58 per cent for local roads (still one of the highest scores across the transition region).

 

Social and economic mobility

When Uzbek respondents were asked from a list of options what they thought were the most important factors for success in life in their country, three-quarters of them chose “effort and hard work”, one of the highest results for that response option in the transition region, while one-fifth answered “intelligence and skills”. Less than 3 and 1 per cent of respondents chose “political connections” and “breaking the law”, respectively.

 

Attitudes towards women

91 per cent of Uzbek respondents believe it is important for their daughter to achieve a university education, and 85 per cent of female respondents and 76 per cent of male ones think that female business executives are as competent as male business executives. Nevertheless, 82 and 80 per cent of female and male respondents, respectively, believe that men make better political leaders than women, while 80 per cent of the population favours a traditional family arrangement where the man works and the woman takes care of the house and children, one of the highest figures in the transition region. Lastly, 93 per cent of Uzbek respondents think that a woman should do the household chores, even if her husband is not working.